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Robotic Parking Technology
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RPT
uses strictly electro mechanics and no hydraulics
or pneumatics are applied at all. Every single component
used is US based, off the shelf and of the highest
quality the market offers. For example, the servo
motors provide a historical lifetime of 25 years and
the selected gearboxes have a first maintenance requirement
after 20 years of operation.
Features
This technology allows for two to three times the
amount of cars to be parked in the same space / volume
of a conventional garage. Moreover, there are no technical
height limitations for the system to work. The user
of a typical conventional garage will most likely
get tired of curving ramps well before reaching the
top level.
RPT provides
absolute security for patrons and their vehicles.
Actual recent R&D is resulting in safety features
never before heard of or seen in any parking garage
worldwide. This research program was sparked after
9/11.
The third
main feature is the Premium Valet Service (PVS). This
is a better service than conventional valet service
due to the fact that the patron parks and retrieves
it’s car on ground floor with easy access, takes
the keys with in the pocket and no one ever drives
or even touches the car – until it is returned,
While in the facility all cars are turned 180 degrees
so the patrons never have to back their cars out of
the facility, leaving forward driving out at the same
spot they parked the car at entering.
Since RPT
is composed of completely modular elements, it provides
a great degree of architectural freedom for both,
the facade design and the arrangement of the system
to accommodate the parameters of the site and room
program. For example, the Entry / Exit Stations (EES)
can be arranged at grade level and the actual storage
space can be located either above or below that entry
level at any height, connected only by vertical lift
shafts with a footprint of about 8 x 20 feet each.
Also, irregular shaped lots or lots with small footprints
can be used for implementation of this technology.
Lots that only could be used for surface parking with
an attendant and not even be used for structured parking
can now be utilized to accommodate the best and highest
use with RPT.
Another
design feature of RPT is that the EES of the facility
can be located at any height in the facility and on
opposite sides and different heights, thereby providing
a very high degree of flexibility for planners.
The throughput
capabilities (this is the number of vehicles processed
in a certain timeframe) of the technology are only
limited by the number of EES that can be physically
located at the entry level(s).
The EES
of the system are the only connections between patron
and facility and accommodate a certain number of vehicles
processed in a certain timeframe. This number is determined
by machine time plus dwell time. Dwell time is defined
as the total time a patron drives into the EES, leaves
the car, exits the EES and initiates the storage process
by either a credit card, a monthly pass or by taking
a ticket. Typical dwell times (which may vary depending
on users) are between 20 and 40 seconds. This results
in a throughput capability of one EES of about 40
to 50 vehicles per hour. Adding EES’s into the
layout results than in added throughput of the system.
As an interesting note on the side, the technology
implementation offers exactly what research of DOT
has resulted in: it was found, that over 50 % of the
traffic in a typical downtown is simply on the road
circling the block and searching for vacant convenient
parking spaces. As the technology can be implemented
easily in many downtown locations where a conventional
garage could not fit by providing a larger number
of parking spaces than ever before, this drastically
will reduce traffic in downtowns – not only
from a congestion, noise and nuisance point of view,
but also from the viewpoint of reducing the waste
of precious space in downtowns.
The
elimination of huge amounts of toxic emissions is
an additional RPT benefit. Based on EPA data, it was
found, that this technology implementation for a 500
car garage saves over 6,000 gallons of gasoline per
year and eliminates toxic emissions of 1,000 pounds
of Hydrocarbons, 3.5 tons of Carbon Monoxide, 500
pounds of Nitrogen Oxides and over 60 tons of Carbon
Dioxide on a yearly basis.
Reliability
As it is true for any thing man made in this universe,
it is prone to fail. Just looking at one’s car,
one’s computer or even real estate, failures
happen. The only answer known to date to overcome
successfully is the strict apply of the safety philosophy
of the one out of two failure. This translates to
implementing strictly a true redundancy in the entire
system. It does not mean just simply installing two
motors on any single machine; it also means the provision
of two same machines, which can accomplish the same
task at any time for any location including the redundancy
of components in every single machine as well.
This is
the basic of the Robotic Parking Technology and has
proven to be extremely reliable in the operation of
the Hoboken facility with over 60,000 parking transactions
in the first 12 months of operation: the average retrieval
time
over these
60,000 transactions was 149 seconds, which also counts
for instances when as many as ten patrons arrived
simultaneously to retrieve their vehicles. On the
storage side, this particular configuration is capable
of receiving the next vehicle at the same EES within
50 seconds after the previous patron initiated the
storage process. These numbers speak reliability and
efficiency. After over one year of successful operation
the questions of “does it work?”, or “what
happens if something breaks ?” have been answered
to the complete satisfaction of the patrons. It will
not be answered more satisfactory over the next following
years of operation.
A
main criterion is the maintenance and the diagnostics
of the system as is true for any automation project
in the world. With a proper maintenance contract in
place and a hot line with 24 / 7 coverage and a short
response time, this technology is as reliable as it
can be expected. The RPT provides a second to none
patented graphical user interface, which generates
automatic reports about runtimes, necessary maintenance
checks and many more features to keep the system reliability
up.
Further examples of reliability are:
· The first “automated”
garage built by Krupp in 1958 in the Deutsche Bank
in Munich. This system is still serving the patrons
to date with its original installed parts! After over
45 years of continued operation.
· Another Krupp example
is the underground garage at the hotel Lotte in Seoul.
This garage was incepted in 1984 by Krupp and is operating
since with over 1,200,000 parking operations per year,
which translates to over 3,000 transaction per day!
The RPT is an advancement of the former technology
applied by Krupp in Germany.
· The RPT is an advancement
of the technology applied by Krupp in Germany.
· One last note: during
the New York City black out in August of 2003, the
Robotic Parking Facility was the only operating garage
in the city – the emergency generator provided
the only lights and operation on the block.
Design Parameters
The basic layout of the system design requires a typical
slab / mat foundation (which is mostly possible due
to the low required soil pressure of 30 to 50 PSI),
a steel structure and the machines riding on the provided
supporting steel beams. The steel structure presents
a kind of erector set with the needed amount of levels
(not floors because there are no ceilings –
it is an open rack structure) composed by columns,
beams and sufficient bracing to meet all wind and
earthquake requirements. This structure also supports
horizontal and vertical loads of the roof and the
facade. Therefore the roof and facade do not need
separate super structures and can be attached to the
actual steel structure with respective vibration and
sound absorbing anchors with a span of 8 feet only.
The bracing
and columns are very adaptive for earthquake or heavy
wind or snow loads as well.
In case
of a mixed use development, it is recommended that
the supporting structures for the building and the
parking facility be separated in order to avoid any
sound or vibration influences into the actual building
be it an office, apartment or retail / entertainment
space.
As the
system provides for a closed facade and roof to architecturally
blend into the neighborhood and protect the vehicles
as well as keep the vehicles sheltered, there is a
practical need for a fire fighting system installation
like a sprinkler system. Lighting can be limited for
maintenance purpose and no mechanical ventilation
is necessary since no engines run inside the facility.
Natural ventilation is provided by the installation
of louvers in the roof.
Other
than that, no special provisions need to be met for
permitting purposes since the building is treated
like a conventional storage building. It may however
be necessary to adjust the zoning codes as several
municipalities did already in the past to accommodate
for the reduced sizes of the parking spaces of 7 x
19 feet, no need for turning radii, slope for ramps
and width of drive aisles as there are none.
Service – Warranty
With a maintenance contract and a hot line in place,
the warranty of the system can be increased for the
time of the contract period. Robotic Parking also
provides for a licensing and escrow agreement of the
software to ensure the owner of continued operation
of the system in any case. Trained technicians are
available to operate the system and provide other
auxiliary services as needed or wanted.
Financing
Robotic Parking has arranged for financing of its
technology and is in a position to lease the operated
parking spaces to a lessee on a monthly basis thus
providing for possibly interesting economical models
as the upfront project cost are reduced and the monthly
payments can be considered as direct expenses.
It
is also of special interest, that the system can be
disassembled at any time and relocated to another
location. Only the foundation cannot be used anymore.
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